A majority of the goods used and consumed by the public are hauled and transported by truck; and as the airline and railway systems undergo changes, shakeouts, buyouts, and rapid increases in fuel and maintenance costs, the share of the nation's freight pool hauled by truck has steadily and dramatically increased. Recent statistics bear this out in so far as for the year 2005 the trucking industry hauled 68.9 per cent of the total volume of freight transported in the United States. In figures this equates to an all-time high carrying load of 10.7 billion tons with revenue of 623 billion dollars and which represents 84.3 per cent of the freight bill of the U.S.
But with costs for everything from fuel, maintenance, insurance, pay and benefits also rising, the trucking industry in particular is alert for ways to reduce or cut costs. These cost issues concern not only the trucking industry but also numerous related and ancillary industries such as processors, consignees, food manufacturers and food distributors. One of the primary ways to decrease costs in the form of damaged or deteriorated goods, and increase profitability, is to make certain that all goods—whether frozen or non-frozen—reach their destination intact and with their integrity fully maintained. While goods are sometimes commingled in that frozen goods are shipped with non-frozen goods, more often than not frozen goods are shipped in separate cargo trailers from the non-frozen goods. On the occasion when a shipper, vendor or customer wants to ship both types of goods in the same cargo trailer, it is imperative that they be kept separate within the interior compartment of that cargo trailer throughout the transport and shipping process which can be over a considerable distance and include numerous stops along the route. Moreover, as the refrigeration cooling unit is most often located toward or at the front of the cargo trailer, the frozen goods are placed towards the front and the non-frozen goods are placed toward the rear of the cargo trailer. But because the frozen goods must be kept frozen and the dry goods kept dry, some type of wall or barrier must be placed between the frozen goods and the non-frozen goods to maintain their integrity, i.e., to keep the frozen goods frozen and preventing the dry goods from being frozen in transit.
A common solution is for the shipper to give the trucker a couple of pieces of insulation material, such as Styrofoam, and a roll of masking tape with the injunction to build a barrier for himself or herself for segregating the frozen goods into one section or partition and the non-frozen goods into an adjoining partition or section. This is a process that can take up to an hour to complete and requires the trucker to estimate—“guesstimate”—the interior dimensions of the cargo trailer and then attempt to size and cut the insulation material to fit snugly within the interior compartment of the cargo trailer. More often than not a barrier is created that doesn't fit within the interior compartment or properly provide an airtight seal between the frozen goods and the non-frozen goods, and is flimsy and doesn't hold up during the long, bumpy, and jarring transit process. This results in the frozen product being thawed out and/or the non-frozen product being partially or fully frozen because an airtight seal wasn't maintained between the two sections and thus cooling air filtered into the partition for the non-frozen product. Thus, a more reliable and stable barrier or bulkhead that is inexpensive, easy to set up and install, easy to break down and dispose of, and can be easily sized and cut to fit within variously dimensioned storage structures such as the interior compartments of cargo trailers of tractor-trailers is highly desirable, and thus the prior art discloses several types of designs.
For example, the Dietrich et al. patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,049,311) discloses a bulkhead door assembly for disposition within a refrigerated trailer but requires that tracks and support devices be mounted within the trailer for supporting the bulkhead door assembly.
The Satterthwaite et al. patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,336) discloses an improved seal apparatus for insertion into and filling a correspondingly shaped hole or opening prior to the inflation of the seal apparatus.
The Davis et al. patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,366,977) discloses a removable and movable partition that includes interconnected peripheral inflatable tube sections that are inflated against the interior walls of the cargo transporter and in so inflating tension a double flexible divider wall that extends between and separates the transporter into compartments.
The Colin patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,498) discloses an inflatable sealing device for a door or moving panel that is especially applicable for use with a sliding or swing door of railway cars.
The Brandenburg patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,624 B1) discloses a cargo space divider primarily for the beds of pickup trucks that includes a pair of support rails that are clamped to the upper sides of the opposed sidewalls and from which are pendent lateral and longitudinal sectioning walls.
The Snyder patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,688,821 B1) discloses an adjustable cargo area organizer system primarily for pickup truck beds that includes a partition assembly that includes a plurality of panels that extend within the bed and longitudinal to the bed of the pickup truck.
The Morris patent (U.S. Pat. No. 7,131,805 B1) discloses an inflatable cargo cover for covering cargo in a flat bed or tractor trailer that includes an inflatable portion and an interior panel spanning between and supporting the inflatable portion.
Nonetheless, despite the ingenuity of the above devices there remains a need for a temporary and disposable bulkhead for refrigerated containers, trailers, units, and shipping structures that provides the shipper, vendor, customer, etc., with the reliability that the various products being shipped will arrive at their destination in the desired and expected condition.